President Barack Obama on Thursday pointed to the profusion of fake news on social media as a sign that people should not take democracy for granted. In a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Obama warned that the ease with which people can promulgate fraudulent news stories threatens basic democratic principles. Facebook in particular has come under fire for not distinguishing between credible and false news sources, helping to fuel misinformation on political issues and candidates. The company announced on Monday that it would take steps to address the problem. If we can’t discriminate between serious arguments and propaganda, then we have problems.

Source: Huffington Post November 17, 2016 19:31 UTC